


Chase Games

by Lioneliness



Category: Pacific Rim (Movies)
Genre: Angst, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Blood and Injury, Drift Bond, Drift Compatibility, Drift Side Effects, Drifting with a Kaiju Brain, Gen, Hurt Hermann Gottlieb, Hurt Newton Geiszler, Hurt/Comfort, Kaiju (Pacific Rim), M/M, Major Character Injury, Mind Control, Mind Control Aftermath & Recovery, The Drift (Pacific Rim)
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-10-12
Updated: 2020-11-04
Packaged: 2021-03-08 06:28:54
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 4
Words: 4,904
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26967511
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lioneliness/pseuds/Lioneliness
Summary: Liwen Shao doesn't let Newt get away. Hermann needs to get his partner back. Alternate middle and ending to Uprising, and hopefully a lot of harkening back to the first movie.
Relationships: Newton Geiszler & Hermann Gottlieb, Newton Geiszler/Hermann Gottlieb
Comments: 2
Kudos: 15





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hi, I've never posted pic before but I am a writer. I'm very big on heavy angst to drive storytelling but I will include other stuff too. CW for gun violence. Please reach out to me on tumblr @lioneliness-etc or in comments with criticism, requests, or if you are looking for a beta reader.  
> I am trying to do short chapters often to get used to posting.
> 
> \- I'm an adult and you can't scare me

The stupidest thing that ran through Dr. Hermann Gottlieb's mind as he was thrown to the floor gasping for breath was "oh god, she's going to kill Newton". This thought reached his brain faster than the oxygen now flowing freely into his body. The thought rolled in like a riptide, so wretched that it left him stupid, unable to factor that Newt wasn't Newt at the moment. Or that Not Newt had only seconds ago been close to completely depriving him of oxygen. Hermann saw the cocked gun in Liwen Shao's hand and with his first shuddering returning breath he spluttered:

"Stop! He's not in control!" He swung his cane at Shao's legs, just as her shot rang out. She stumbled but didn't topple. He could hear Newt scrambling for the door as he rolled to his feet gracelessly. The shots were deafening and sharp at such close range. He heard two more fire and then the instantaneous reverberation of something impacting glass without shattering it before he had righted himself enough to see. The glass would have fractured if Liwen had missed her target. Newton had fallen against the glass just shy of the door. 

Hermann wasn't fast, but he was tall. Liwen may have paused in horror at her own actions but she redirected her body toward the main screen and control terminal as Hermann bounded toward the door. He sank to his knees with a hand dragging down the face of the glass. Newt looked dazed and -fuck- there were two entry wounds. One burbled just to the right of his sternum -Newton's right, thank god- and another about ten centimeters below. Hermann could feel his tongue babbling and tripping over itself breathlessly as he frantically undid the buttons on Newton's waistcoat. Hermann began to try to tear at his own clothes, finally pulling his sweater over his head and pressing it into Newton's chest.

"The knits going to be too wide, I don't think it will absorb," He muttered meaninglessly, trying harder to apply pressure and eliciting a scream and the sudden force of Newt's body trying to force him off. "Newton! Newton, stay down!" His elbow and Newt's head were bumping erratically against the glass. Newton was hissing and spitting and as Hermann struggled to maintain his hold and pressure, he realized again that it wasn't Newton there before him. 

The precursor Newton grabbed his collar with slick hands, pulling his head down towards the wounds in his chest. It was a furious gesture but Hermann knew that Newt wouldn't have the strength to try anything. Well, Hermann didn't know anything right now, but he would bet on it. Precursor Newton was snarling and seething like blood in the water.

"IT IS ALREADY DONE." The stolen voice reverberated. "IT HAS BEGUN, REGARDLESS OF THE DEATH OF THIS FLESH."

"N-no, you're going to be alright and you are going to GIVE HIM BACK TO ME" Hermann was failing to modulate. "NEWTON! Newton, I know you're in there and you're okay, I've got you and help is coming." The precursors shuddered and clawed and scratched at him futilely. Hermann kept his eyes on his hands and the now spongy sweater and on Newt's pale and livid face. "Shao we need some BLOODY MEDICS IN HERE NOW!"

The neat thing about all the glass was that Hermann was able to see the private security approaching before he could hear and almost feel their boots. As the first few figures in black charged the room, Liwen Shao was shouting commands. Then there were several strong men and women circling him. Newton's grip had loosened and Hermann could tell he was slipping in and out of painful consciousness. Security grabbed Newton's faltering hands and sprawled legs and were handcuffing them, pushing Hermann back in the process. He panicked as he was pushed back from applying pressure to the wounds.

"No, stop! He needs medical attention!" Hermann tried to push his way back in, seeing in flashes around him the gun trained on Newt from above. 

Before he could fight his way back in there was more private security entering with an emergency stretcher, the orange type probably pulled off a wall or from the back of a closet. They were loading Newton in shackles and carting him away faster than Hermann could travel as the Shatterdome began to shudder and tilt with explosions from outside.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the wait. More on the way soon.

Hermann lost sight of the stretcher on his was down to the med bay. It didn’t help that there were tremors and the sounds of heavy impact and tearing metal always just beyond the hallways he scrambled down. He decided not to risk an elevator, despite the slow and increasingly painful task of maneuvering down the stairs. He had come to accept the near constant low levels of pain but he was rarely willing to exacerbate his chronic condition. All around him people were beginning to run, most attempting to head as deep into the belly of the Shatterdome, as though the battle outside was a tornado they could shelter from. There were also at least a few heroes, duty bound to their positions despite the fact that there was no rehearsed protocol for this.

Hermann reached the med bay just as the flood of injured workers began to stream in. The crowd was mostly the ambulatory injured, a few draped like coats over the shoulders of colleagues. They hadn’t been able to collect the more seriously wounded yet, not through the disorganization and chaos. He thought for a minute that this is how he must have looked years ago, guiding Newton back to his room after the first kaiju drift, still scared out of his fucking mind for him. Down the main hallway he spotted a cluster of Shao’s private security, the only still, dark figures amid the stream of scrubs.

The hall was beginning to bottleneck with gurneys and chairs where nurses were hurriedly addressing the less seriously wounded. Hermann hurried through, stumbling as he tried to sidestep a woman who was clutching her badly bleeding forehead. Approaching the security, he realized he had no cards left in his hand, no reason they should tell him anything about Newt.

“Where is Newton Geiszler?” He demanded anyway. The guards exchanged quick glances.

“He is with doctors.” One finally answered in accented but fluent English. He gestured down a branching hallway. “He will remain in our custody until further orders.” He added firmly after a minute of reading Hermann’s face. 

Hermann huffed, taking a few directionless steps down the hall before finding an empty plastic chair and sitting. Over the next few minutes the guards rearranged themselves, standing along the walls so as not to take up space, but still clearly at attention, eyes flicking up and down the hall. Hermann tried to keep his eyes on the ground, keeping both hands rested atop his cane. He thought to himself that perhaps time would pass faster this way, and that he would receive news sooner, if he blocked all references of movement or passing time. He would tear his gaze off and down the hall every few minutes, looking for a doctor or someone headed towards them. All of thirty minutes passed before he was interrupted.

“Sir? I’m Nurse Do-hyun, I will be doing your intake. Can you tell me your name and how and where you were injured?” A man with a clipboard stood over him.

“What? Oh — I am not hurt.” Hermann quickly responded. “My friend is still back there with the doctors. I am his emergency contact.” He added. Do-hyun hesitated.

“I’m very sorry, but we are in crisis and getting full very quickly. I’m going to need you to come back later.” He looked sincerely sorry and concerned, but he stepped back and gestured for Hermann to leave. Hermann managed half a nod.

As Hermann made his way out the bay was more crowded than ever, smelling of iodine and blood and ringing with soft cries. He paused outside the area, unsure of where he was expected to go, certain that wherever it was it couldn’t be more important than making sure Newton was alright.

It was then that he checked his phone and saw seven missed calls from Tendo Choi (now there is a number he didn’t hear from often). Underneath were several text messages. They read.

_Gottlieb get up here now_

_We are having a physics problem_

_GET UP HERE_

_We need your rocket fuel_


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this chapter took a bit longer. More to come though! Also I plan on throwing in some more flashbacks unless there are any objections. Please feel free to reach out if you have any thoughts.

Hermann had been keeping up with his peers when his phone rang. He wasn’t speaking to them of course. He hadn’t exchanged more than a few friendly emails with most of the lot since he finished his last doctorate. He did however have the tendency to keep more up to date on the published research of anyone he once knew. Newton referred to it as “glorified cyberstalking”. Regardless, Hermann was quite comfortable in his quarters in the Shatterdome, poring like a smug cat over his computer. He was surprised to answer the phone and hear Newton’s cheery but shaky voice on the other side.

“Heyyy Herms. You know the glands that allow the kaiju to uh… produce acid for spitting? Well there are a whole bunch of them and they are pretty small, like the size of a sheep’s stomach. And uh… I got one in a sample earlier. Turns out, some of the stuff inside produces a pretty noxious gas when exposed to air. So, when I cut one open—”

“Mein Gott Newton! You didn’t think to have a respirator on? Or do this under a fume hood?”

“Well, to be fair, I didn’t know it was going to happen, and we don’t have a fume hood in the lab.”

“Unknown materials Newton! You could have sent in a request for a bloody fume hood!”

“I will… Anyway I passed out and hit my head on one of the lab tables. Someone intern from ops found me. Took me to the med bay but they had to send me to the big hospital for some tests, make sure I wasn’t brain dead or lad any lasting lung damage. They won’t release me to leave on my own because of the –super mild­– head injury. Could you maybe… take the bus and come get me?”

Hermann sighed. There was always an ask wasn’t there.

“Yes, I’m on my way.” He answered after a moment. There hadn’t been a moment of thought in his mind, but he considered that Newton deserved to be left hanging for a second.

“Thanks so much dude! I’ll text you the address. Also... I uh, made you my emergency contact.”

That just hung in the air.

“It was my dad before but he’s on a whole different continent, so I thought…”

“Yes, That’s fine Newton. I’m requesting a fume hood by the way. I know you’ll forget to do it.”

“Okay. Thank you again. I’m sorry.

“I’ll see you soon.”

Those had been the days before they thought to outfit the med bay more thoroughly, for the sake of the rangers and cadets and engineers.

Hermann didn’t find his way back to med bay until hours after the mega-kaiju had been confirmed as dead. He had heard that Nate Lambert had been rushed to hospital in Tokyo, which of course made him immediately worry for Newt, down in the Shatterdome’s own facilities. The halls of the med bay had calmed down a bit, though they were still quite clearly at capacity, with many patients being treated while sitting on gurneys or chairs lining the walls. He soon realized that Newton must have been moved and he tried to swallow his panic as he resigned to ask a nurse standing by a computer terminal. Hermann was pointed down a few more sterile passages, his breath relaxing a bit as he spotted two private security agents standing on either side of a door. Given the day Hermann was having, he should not have been so surprised when they barred his entry.

“Entrance to this room is currently prohibited,” The guard on the right said firmly.

“Excuse me, but I am at the moment this man’s closest medical contact!” Hermann spluttered. The guard shook his head. Hermann huffed. “Well you must be letting medical personnel in, and I assume you’ll be letting in Ms. Shao soon enough. Could you at least point me to the doctor currently treating Newton Geiszler?” He finished by raising his voice, an embarrassingly Newton-esque bargain for attention.

Thankfully at that moment, the guard gestured to flag down a man somewhere behind Hermann. He turned just as a man about Newton’s height and carrying a clipboard came up beside his shoulder.

“You are Mr. Gottlieb?” The man’s skin was soft as he shook Hermann’s hand. “It was noted on the paperwork that you would be contacted. I’m Dr. Bhatt.” He touched Hermann’s shoulder to guide him a few steps out of earshot of the guards. “I understand that these are complicated and unusual circumstances, so I would like to go over this with you very quickly. You are listed as Mr. Geiszler’s emergency contact so I am able to keep you updated on his status, but you are not listed as a medical decision maker for him, in the case that he is unable to communicate his desires about treatment.” Dr. Bhatt looked Hermann directly in the eye. “I understand that Mr. Geiszler is currently in custody and I will have to comply with any law enforcement or open investigations. However, I can tell you that Mr. Geiszler is in recovery from a pulmonary tractotomy in order to repair penetrating lung trauma while preserving as much lung tissue as possible. He currently has a chest tube inserted to manage drainage. He is still under heavy sedation and pain management, but he is doing well and should be gaining consciousness soon, though he will likely be quite ‘out of it’ for a while.”

Hermann nodded stiffly, his mouth suddenly dry and sticky. He was relieved that Newton would be okay, but at the same time he knew he didn’t know that yet, and he needed to negotiate with Shao. Dr. Bhatt smiled gently.

“You are welcome to go sit with him. Gentlemen, you have must let this man inside.” He said, tuning sternly back to the security.

“Thank you.” Hermann managed after a pause. Dr. Bhatt winked at him, and he offered his strongest glower to the guards as he pushed inside.

There was another security officer inside. Hermann looked about and thought fleetingly how unusual it was for a single occupancy room in Shatterdome medical. Every time he had been down before he had seen several wards with curtained off beds, and it looked as though this room normally held two occupants, though one bed had been removed. Newton looked almost as though he had been set adrift in asleep on his bed, pushed away from shore by the guard on the wall opposite him. Newton was pale and still. Besides an IV in his left arm, a lifeline blending almost invisibly into his tattooed forearm, and a heart rate monitor clipped onto his finger, Hermann noticed that each of his wrists were handcuffed to the rails of the bed.

_Fucking hell, what are they doing to you?_ A plastic chair had washed up against one of the nearby walls of the hollow room, and Hermann dragged it up beside the bed. He hesitated, not wanting to disturb the IV, the clip, or the goddamn cuffs for that matter. Finally he gently pressed the tips of his fingers onto the soft skin of Newton’s upturned inner wrist. He rested his hand there and tried not to catch sight of the hulking reaper guarding them from against the wall.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi. Bit of a longer chapter for once. Got some flashback material in there. Next few chapters should be driving the plot forward and have more interaction with other characters. I have some ideas but I would REALLY LOVE feedback and input on what you haven't seen in this fandom before and what you might like to see moving forward. Reach out in comments or send me a message. My dms are open on tumblr @lioneliness-etc. I'd love to talk or hear ideas/suggestions (I would totally credit you as cocreator or leave you you anonymous if you prefer, duh.) Criticism is always accepted too, I'm tough as rocks so you don't have to worry about being mean.

Hermann Gottlieb may not have had a reputation for being a patient man, but it did, in fact, take longer than a day for him to get fed up with sharing a workspace with one Newton Geiszler. Part of this was likely due to it taking more than a single day for Newton’s side of the room to accumulate the level of gruesome chaos it became known for. On their first day together, only their second in person meeting, Newton’s half was filled with carefully packed lab equipment in boxes labelled “FRAGILE”. He had begun to unpack some of these in the morning before quickly losing interest and declaring that there was really no point as most of the specimens wouldn’t arrive for another day or so anyway, since he had arranged it so that he would be there to ensure their safe arrival and proper preservation.

The first warning sign for Hermann was that as soon as Newt lost interest in unpacking he had begun to watch Hermann unceasingly from across the room. He stood there leaning on all the tables with relaxed grin on his face, like some sort of scruffy tree frog, watching as Hermann fussed with his stacks of books and journals and made sure that the computer had been set up according to his storage and processing needs. Hermann found this boundlessly irritating. He kept looking up to see Newton looking at him, and once or twice he tried clearing his throat loudly or staring back inquisitively to try to shake the man’s attention. Eventually he tried to ignore him, at which point Newton promptly began talking.

“Hey, so it’s like 1:40, do you want to go get lunch together? We could just pop down to the mess hall, or hey, since it’s our first day we could go out to celebrate! I found a dumpling house nearby the night I flew in. It’s cheap and casual but it was really good. You down dude?”

Hermann sighed.

“I suppose I could eat now.” God, he hoped this would convince Newton to leave him alone.

“Sweet! Dumplings then?”  
The restaurant was hot and crowded in a way that made Hermann feel a bit like he was a dumpling being gently steamed. He watched Newton’s glasses fog up the moment they entered, he was still rubbing them clear as they sat down and began to order.

“So, Dr. Geiszler,” It had fallen on Hermann to begin conversation. “I imagine you have at least one or two proposals in the work for studies you’d like to begin?”

“Uh, really, please, just call me Newt. But yeah, actually! I’ve been working on a thing trying to work out some of the kinks in our understanding of the kaiju endocrine system. Well… it’s not really similar enough to fully call it an endocrine system, we are still working on the name, or I am at least. Anyway, I contacted an old mentor of mine, but she does standard biology, not really any of the K-science stuff.” Newton lit up as he talked about his science. As off-putting as Hermann found his attitude toward kaiju sometimes, this would come to be the side of Newton he could understand the most. This was his language. He let Newton continue, the conversation only dying a bit as their food arrived.

“So are you in contact with many colleagues in the k-biology field then?”

“Um, not really. I have professional correspondence with some of the other top research projects going on, mostly PPDC funded stuff anyway. But no…” Newton chuckled a bit. “None of the people I studied and researched with liked me all that much. Can’t say I have too many school friends.”

That was surprising to Hermann. He couldn’t imagine Newton not worming his way into the lives of everyone he worked with. Not with all that passion for what he did, and all that willingness to get completely, utterly messy in it. 

It was about an hour before Newton began to slowly wake up. Hermann noticed as his head began to shift and the handcuff jingled mournfully. He stood up to make certain he could look Newton in the eye, wondering for a moment if it would even be Newton there when he awoke. It was, he knew the second Newton opened his eyes and looked at him glassy and puzzled. It was something too gentle and unsure of itself to be anything but Newton.

“Hrmm? Whuh?” Newton slurred, furrowing his brow.

“Hello Newton, you are alright. You’re in medical, just stay still for now.”

“Oh shit, I hurt you!” His eyes got wide as he started to form words more coherently. Hermann heard Newton’s far hand pull taught on the cuff’s chain.

“I’m alright, it wasn’t your fault.” Hermann quickly tugged at his collar. It had been nearly half a day and he was sure there was some bruising on his neck now.

“I’m sorry.” He said somewhere between a whisper and a whimper, his eyes starting to roll closed again.”

“Shhhh, it’s alright, I’m quite alright.” Hermann realized as Newton drifted off that he was holding onto his arm, squeezing the joint of Newt’s wrist and hand.

The next time it was different. A moment before opening his eyes there was a change in his breathing. It suddenly grew louder and harsher, not labored so much as determined, and far more measured and even than before. Hermann instantly thought to run for a nurse, but Newton wasn’t struggling to breathe at all and the change was just subtle enough for Hermann to almost believe he had imagined it. When Newt opened his eyes however, the thing that Hermann had seen in them earlier, what had made him certain that it was truly his friend in there, was gone.

His stare was cold and hard, so startling similar to when he had first lunged for Hermann’s throat that he dropped Newton’s arm. Newton said nothing, just continued breathing forcefully, still perfectly measured, staring at Hermann with the eyes of a viper.

“You give him back.” Hermann hissed, trying to swallow the fear that was snaking its way up his throat. The precursors eyed him for a few eternal minutes before their eyes slid closed and the conscious breathing slipped into sleep once more.

The thing about sharing a lab with Newton Geiszler is that he was always around. It felt like Hermann spent nearly every waking minute with him, mornings, meals, and more often than not late hours. They would be called in to consult in the same meetings and visitors (mostly PPDC higher-ups) rarely came to see just one of them. For a long time this made Hermann vaguely uncomfortable. Newton seemed to live within the lab as an extension of his quarters, he would eat and nap, and stream radio and trashy television on his desktop while he worked. Hermann may have spent just as much time in the lab, but he carried himself in a more traditional workplace manner. He would make coffee and tea in the corner throughout the day, but he would always leave to eat and he certainly didn’t have extra warm socks and sweaters stored in an old filing cabinet like Newt. But on this particular day he felt the need to use the lab a little more like a personal quarters and he was silently and impatiently hoping that for once Newt would leave. When finally Newt announced that he was going to go get more instant coffee packets and snacks for the lab, Hermann sighed with relief and the second the door was shut he sank gratefully to the floor and lay flat on his back beside his desk.

“Oh fuck, Herms?! Dude are you okay?” It felt like Hermann had only closed his eyes for a moment when he heard Newton’s panicked voice and opened them to see Newt’s legs frozen a few steps in from the door.

“Yes Newton, I am fine.” He sighed and looked back up towards the ceiling.

“You’re on the floor.” Newton noted questioningly.

“Yes. I am fine, my hip was just bothering me and it helps to be laying down.”

“Oh, ok… Do you need anything? I guess I don’t really know how to help you. Uh, acetaminophen? I’ve got a hot water bottle somewhere in my room and there is definitely ice in the sample freezer.”

“No thank you Newton,” Hermann said quickly, sitting up. He got to his knees and used his cane to help himself to his feet. He hesitated at the look of concern on Newton’s face, he realized he had never really told him about his disability. Newton was tactful enough to not ask any intrusive questions (not about his medical history at least) and while Hermann was always aware when he was the only visibly disabled person in a space, he didn’t often make point of bringing it up unless someone was particularly rude. Even though he’d used mobility aids for most of his life, he was still irrationally afraid of bringing it up, even more so in academic circles. “Chronic joint and back pain. It gets irritated by lots of standing or even just sitting on it for long stretches” He said finally.

“Ok,” Newton smiled gently and crossed the room to start unloading his brown paper shopping bag onto the snack shelf. Hermann sat on the chair he had positioned at his desk.

“I had a very severe bone infection when I was very young.” Hermann pursed his lips, still wondering midway through if he should continue. “The prognosis is usually quite good for children but mine spread to the joint as well and they had to remove quite a bit of bone. It never developed properly after that, so my knee and spine overcompensate. My leg is functionally shorter than the other, so I’ve used either a cane or crutches for most of my life.” It never really got more normal to talk about, no matter how many people, even those he cared about, told him not to be ashamed. Maybe it was that grade school hadn’t been kind to him, maybe it was that society was never all that kind. Newton looked over his shoulder as he tossed a bag of something terribly salted and crunchy onto the shelf.

“Hm. Well thanks for telling me dude. You really didn’t have to if you didn’t want but I’m glad to know a little more about the elusive Dr. Gottlieb.” Newton turned and was grinning broadly now. “Seriously though, don’t worry about taking the day off if you need it. I’ll make sure no one bothers you about it.”

Hermann grumbled, turning back to his work make clear he would be doing nothing of the sort, but inside he felt relieved and resolved to slip out early.

“We should get a couch in here so you can be more comfortable when you need it!”

“Absolutely not! It would be disgusting and covered in Kaiju innards within a week.”

Hermann knew it was Newton again the second he opened his eyes. His eyes were scared and human as they quickly flicked around, registering the room. His anxious expression relaxed just a fraction as he landed on Hermann.

“Hello again. Do you remember what happened and where you are?” Hermann asked timidly.

“I got shot, right?” He was definitely more awake than before, speaking more clearly.

“Twice actually,” Hermann responded.

“Yeah… Hermann, I’m so sorry.” He sounded like he was about to cry, though Hermann couldn’t tell if it was emotion or just pain. He shook his head.

“You couldn’t have known. Are you in a lot of pain?”

“It’s not too bad I think. Mostly just feel tired and kind of floaty. Chest feels weird.”

Hermann nodded. Newton looked completely exhausted, like he’d been pulled out of the depths of some frozen lake. Tentatively, he reached out and brushed the strands of hair off Newton’s forehead. Whatever gel had kept them swept up for so long had given up the good fight.

“Herms, I was in there the whole time but I couldn’t do anything. I mean I could but it was like half of myself calling the shots and I didn’t know where in that half I ended and the they began. I feel like one and a half people in me at once, but the extra half is stronger than the whole.” Newton was trembling now, he tried to move his arms and was stopped by the handcuffs. Hermann stopped worrying about the heart rate monitor and let Newt’s hand slide into his. “I can feel it coming back Hermann, the less drugged up and broken I am it’s going to heal faster and come back.”

“Alright, alright Newton. I’m going to find a way to get them out of you. Just focus on staying as long as you can without hurting yourself. Fight them!” Hermann had no fucking clue what he was saying but he needed to keep him calm.

“What are they going to do to me?” Newton whispered, and Hermann knew he wasn’t talking about the precursors.

“I won’t let them hurt you,” Hermann assured, squeezing his hand and using his free hand to stroke Newton’s hair with far more reassurance than he felt. If Newton hadn’t been in too much pain before, Hermann could tell he certainly was now. “Just rest for now.”

He watched him fall back asleep. The next time he would wake up it would back to those cold, vacantly violent eyes.


End file.
